Photo source: The Dallas Morning News
Last month, Haitian migrants in the tens of thousands were apprehended or forcibly expelled by U.S. Border Patrol. The harrowing images of refugees at the Rio Grande being literally rounded up at the U.S.—Mexico border by federal authorities on horseback reinvigorated broader discussions about the Biden administration’s approach to immigration. But immigration is not only a policy issue: Immigration is a reproductive and birth justice issue and has long-term impacts on families and communities.
The migrants at the border, including pregnant people, children, and the elderly, are facing injustices on many fronts. Haiti as a nation is currently experiencing both political instability and the aftermath of natural disasters. This year’s events — the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise and a devasting earthquake followed by a powerful storm — are just the latest crises in the years of oppression, corruption and violence leaving Haitian citizens fearing for their lives and safety.
Migrants seeking asylum at American borders and those who enter the U.S. lack basic health care and the skills to navigate the social services systems, much less the reproductive health care and perinatal services that migrant women, birthing people, and families residing in encampments require. Moreover, detention centers are notorious for violating bodily autonomy, with reports of forced sterilizations continuing to surface.
Immigrant justice is reproductive justice,” said Megan Morse, registered nurse, at the event. "We must keep the health of women and birthing people in mind as we develop policies at all levels whether federally, state and local.
Megan Morse, Registered Nurse
Panelist at Healthcare as Sanctuary: ICE, Birthing People, and Justice for Immigrants
While the politics of immigration are widely debated, less discussed are the ways that mistreatment and violence at the hands of federal institutions harm the health of individuals and their families. Last year, we held a Collaboratory entitled “Healthcare as Sanctuary: ICE, Birthing People, and Justice for Immigrants,” where panelists discussed the ways that stigmatization of migrants and deportation fears result in poor health outcomes. Both those factors lead to hesitancy and barriers to accessing necessary perinatal care and can result in worse birth outcomes.
“Immigrant justice is reproductive justice,” said Megan Morse, registered nurse, at the event. "We must keep the health of women and birthing people in mind as we develop policies at all levels whether federally, state and local."
Research published earlier this year found a 5% increase in preterm birth for every criminalizing immigration policy in place among Black women born outside the U.S. Jacqueline Torres, Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF, evaluated the impact of county-level immigration enforcement measures on preterm birth.
“At this point, there is robust evidence that immigration policy and enforcement — which in the U.S. has always been shaped by structural racism — can have broad impacts on birth outcomes,” says Torres. “For example, a prior foundational study showed that deportations that targeted Latinx immigrants in one specific location in the U.S. contribute to increased risk of low birth weight and preterm birth among Latinx individuals across a much wider geography, including those born in the U.S. and in Latin America.”
Despite evidence that the threat of deportation — driven by laws and rhetoric rooted in anti-immigrant sentiment and racism — can have nationwide impacts on preterm birth among those with identities directly targeted by these threats, social stressors like these are not regularly brought up in discussions around immigration and enforcement policy. But birth justice means showing up in these conversations about migrant rights.
